


The Last First Day

by thatsoccercoach



Series: Which Door? (Fluffy Fraser Fics) [79]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Emotions, Fluff, starting school
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26323282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsoccercoach/pseuds/thatsoccercoach
Summary: Claire faces the emotions of sending her last babies off to school.
Series: Which Door? (Fluffy Fraser Fics) [79]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/958905
Comments: 5
Kudos: 61





	The Last First Day

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to the reader who asked for this one! I thought I had moved everything over here from Tumblr and hadn't realized it wasn't here on AO3!

Willa and Fergus were about to begin preschool and though she tried hard not to compare her children, sometimes it seemed inevitable. When Faith had first begun school she’d been filled with emotion. There were germs everywhere, the other children were more assertive than her shy daughter, and tiny Faith was reluctant to be away from her family. She hadn’t been one of the weepy mothers watching her baby spread her wings. Claire had been at her wit’s end with anxiety when their firstborn had gone to school. Brianna’s introduction to preschool had been far less dramatic, in typical second-child nature. She’d already attended daycare a couple days each week while her mama and da worked and she fit right in without hesitation. Claire found joy in the way Bree thrived. 

Now it was their babies’ turn to go to school and Claire, instead of being nervous or even excited, was nostalgic. 

Fergus and Willa had entered the room hand in hand. Willa’s empty hand had immediately gone up, thumb directly into her mouth. 

“Where’s my Faith ‘n’ Bee?” Fergus scowled, looking around the little classroom.

“They’re at their own school, love,” Claire explained patiently, not for the first time. “Remember, we dropped them of before we came here?” Shen gently nudged them a bit farther into the room.

“No,” he squinted and tilted his head. “I dinna ‘member it. Are they coming?”

“They’ll stay at their school and you and your sister will stay here together. Faith and Bree at their big school, Willa and Fergus at their preschool.” As she spoke she held one hand out then the other indicating each pair of children and their respective schools.

Willa looked genuinely confused now. Apparently two “meet and greets,” daily talks for weeks, _and_ dropping off the big girls hadn’t made the situation clear to either toddler.

The mood quickly changed, which wasn’t unusual with any Fraser. The concern was that the mood had changed from stubbornness to what appeared to be sorrow.

“I dinna like _this_ school,” Fergus stated, tears filling the corners of his eyes. 

_Oh no._ None of her children had ever _cried_ on the first day of school. If Fergus cried, Willa was bound to follow and then Claire would be leaving her two babies in tears and she was absolutely _not_ prepared for that.

“I’m all done, Mama.” He released Willa and reached his arms up to her to be picked up. “We’re going home now?”

_She should have had Jamie bring them instead of insisting that she drop them off._

The teachers were nearby, ready to intervene, watching on in sympathy. Another mother gave her a look that clearly communicated her disgust with Claire’s ability to delivery her children to school calmly. And her little ones continued to stare imploringly at her, waiting for her to take them home.

She took one tiny, warm hand in each of hers and walked the twins over to a low table with playdough. Deliberately she steered the children into chairs and then she crouched near, placing their hands in the squishy dough, attempting to distract them from the impending separation from their mama.

“This is where you’ll start for today. Willa and Fergus are going to have a marvelous time at school, Faith and Bree are going to do well at their school, and Mama and Da will work hard at their jobs, then we’ll all be home together again this afternoon. Have fun, lovies.” Then she kissed each of them on their round cheeks and walked away, certain that she was leaving a chunk of her heart behind.

And, with tears of her own beginning to blur her vision, she promptly ran into her husband in the hallway.

“Wait, wot?” she exclaimed in simultaneous puzzlement and relief. He shouldn’t have been there. She was grateful he was.

“Sassenach, are ye well then? And the bairns?” he asked at the same time she spoke before taking a good look at her, foregoing further conversation for a moment, and wrapping her into a comforting embrace.

“I kent ye said that ye didna mind taking them to school but once you and the bairns were all gone, I realized how much I wanted to be here too. I wanted to see them on their first day. I wanted to be wi’ you when we left them here.”

She muttered _something_ incomprehensible into the front of his shirt and he chuckled.

“I hope ye dinna mind.”

“Mind?” she squeaked out, pulling back and swiping at the tears in the corners of her eyes. “Jamie, they’re our babies and we only get to have this day, this time, once. There’s nobody I’d rather do this with than you.” She reached up and put her arms around his neck so she could look up into his face. “I’m always glad to have you by my side.”

That school year there were days where one or the other Fraser toddler cried in anger, frustration, or sorrow. There were other days that Willa and Fergus asserted their independence and Claire and Jamie would feel nearly unneeded. Mostly, there were just moments that Claire wished she and her husband could freeze in time to watch over and over, knowing that childhood, though precious and sweet, was all too fleeting. 

Watching their family grow up was still something that took Claire by surprise at times. She hadn’t been part of a big family growing up, nor had she anticipated becoming a mother to four wee Frasers. Yet here she was, wishing to cherish every single moment.

“I suppose we ought to go to work then?” She reluctantly stepped away from her husband.

“Aye, we must. But I’m glad we got this moment, at least.”

He shot her that smile that she fell in love with all those years ago and reached out to take her hand and lead her on from there.


End file.
